To link to the entire object, paste this link in email, IM or documentTo embed the entire object, paste this HTML in websiteTo link to this page, paste this link in email, IM or documentTo embed this page, paste this HTML in website

Volume 19, Number 14 Friday, March 22, 1991
VCUVoice Virginia Commonwealth University
A Publication for Faculty and Staff on the University's Academic and Medical College of Virginia Campuses
VCU On Last Laps of Budget Reduction Process
By Elaine Jones
By next week, President Eugene P.
Trani and the vice presidents will know
the Board of Visitors' reactions to VCU's
tuition-increase proposal. They also will
have heard from other groups, including
the Faculty Senate, the Council of
Academic Administrators, and students,
on a preliminary proposal to reduce
VCU's budget in 1991 -92 that went
before University Council on March 18.
In addition to the $12 million that
VCU already has cut from its budget, the
University faces another $13 million,
pending the outcome of Governor L.
Douglas Wilder's review of the budget
bill approved by the General Assembly.
Assuming the $13 million target holds,
VCU's general funding will see a total
reduction from $128 million at the end of
1989-90 to $103 million in 1991-92.
The preliminary budget proposal
describes three ways VCU will meet its
$13 million target reduction: tuition
increases; permanent reduction altern a-
. tives that emerged primarily from unit
analyses; and alternatives to complete the
target reduction on a short-tenn and a
penn anent basis arising out of strategic
issues analyses.
Tuition Increases--$5.8 million: Trani
reported to University Council that presi­dents
of Virginia's public institutions
sought and got maximum flexibility to
raise tuition from the General Assembly
and additional dollars for financial aid for
undergraduate students. Trani will not be
alone among Virginia's presidents in
using the maximum authority in their pro­posals
to their boards. Tuition increases
vary according to residency status;
full-time and part-time status; differences
among undergraduates, graduates,
Jnedical tuden , 1IfId dental students; and
on- and off-campus living arrangements.
(See box on page 2.)
The preliminary proposal described
the main objective of tuition increases: to
replace up to one-half of the general fund
reductions imposed by the state. Tuition
increases also would provide for other
initiatives, inCluding funding microcom­puter
labs for students; maintaining the
program to fund tuition waivers and
out-of-state tuition differential waivers
for selected undergraduate students
appointed to graduate assistantships: off­setting
hikes in medical and dental stu­dent
tuition; and continuing the Under­graduate
Scholarship Program funded
through tuition waivers for up to 185 stu­dents
of the entering freshman class
(which include Honors Students), among
a number of other objectives identified in
the preliminary proposal.
Unit Analysis--$4.1 million: Deans,
directors, and department heads identified
options to reduce their budgets, which the
vice presidents wil l consider as penna­nent
reduction measures. Described in the
preliminary proposal, unit reductions fall
into ten categories:
I. Various units identified full-time
faculty , administrat ive, and classified
positions for e limination . Vacant
positions among these units would be
abolished: for layoffs, state and Uni­versity
employee policies and layoff
procedures would be implemented.
2. Part-time hourly employment.
graduate teaching assistants, and adjunct
faculty would be restricted among various
unils and instructional departments.
3. Non-personal support would
be reduced to show sav ings in travel, pub­lication
costs. equipment <lcquisitions.
maintenance service contracts. and
general operating support.
4. Some units idenl itied alternative
fund sources. Continued funding would
be transferred to school or departmental
overhead funds, sponsored program
funds, or unrestricted local funds.
5. Some units anticipate retirements
among faculty not eligible for the state's
early retirement program, which would
result in savi ngs for these departments
and schools.
Dr. Trani To Be Inaugurated April 6
6. Several units identified elimination
or reduction of services, among them the
Center on Aging, East and West
Academic Computing, Mail Services,
University Computing, Financial
Operations, and Advancement.
T he University community will
celebrate the appointment of Dr. Eugene
P. Trani as president of Virginia
Commonwealth University on Saturday,
April 6, 1991.
Trani will be inaugurated as VCU's
fourth president at a ceremony at the
Mosque at lOam. The inaugural ceremo­ny
will be followed by a reception at the
Inside This Issue
Allergies -
They're Here
Again
page 5
Be Polite,
page 8
Franklin Street Gymnasium, 817 West
Franklin Street.
"I look forward to the event," said
Roger L. Gregory, member of the VCU
Board of Visitors. "I think it 's going to be
a good presentation of VCU's fourth
president to the University community.
It's going to be a simple ceremony,
emphasizing the academic prominence of
the University and its move into the
twenty-first century."
The inaugural program includes a
premiere perfonnance of "The Peace
Cantata," an original composition by
Allan Blank, professor of composition at
VCU. The work was written especially
for the inauguration and will be per­fonned
by the Commonwealth Singers
and Choral Arts Society, directed by
Dr. John Guthmiller.
"A colleague of mine, a writer and
poct, had assembled these texts and sent
them to me. I was very moved by them,"
Blank said. He contacted the chairperson
of the Department of Music, David
Cordle, about using the work for the
inauguration.
"In the back of my mind was not
only presenting this work for the
University, but for the world which is so
tom apart," Blank said.
Delegates from colleges, universities,
and learned societies will march in the
inaugural procession. including represen­tatives
of Harvard University, the
University of Pennsylvania, and Rutgers
University. Virginia Governor Lawrence
Douglas Wilder will deliver the inaugural
address.
Trani assumed the presidency of the
University on July I, 1990. Previously, he
served as vice president for academic
affairs for the University of Wisconsin
System and was a professor of history.
A native of Brooklyn, New York,
Trani earned a bachelor's degree in
history from Notre Dame. He received his
master's and doctoral degrees, also in
history, from Indiana University.
Since coming to VCU, Trani has
implemented community initiatives,
including the fonnation of Community
Advisory Boards for the Academic and
MCV Campuses and the Grace Street
Task Force.
7. Several units identified revenues
or recoveries from other use rs of their
C ontimil~d on page 2
Inaugural Ticket Information
Tickets for the receplion are available
on a first-come, two-per-person basis.
On the Academic Campus, lickets may
be obtained in the lobby of the
University Student Commons, 907
Floyd Avenue. On the MCV Campus,
tickets are available in the Office of
Environmental Health and Safety.
Sanger Hall, 101 East Marshall Street,
room B2-014. Tickets are free and may
be picked up daily between 8:30 am
and 4 pm.
HARVIE. L M
MED ICI NAL CHEMISTRY
BOX 54 0 #

Volume 19, Number 14 Friday, March 22, 1991
VCUVoice Virginia Commonwealth University
A Publication for Faculty and Staff on the University's Academic and Medical College of Virginia Campuses
VCU On Last Laps of Budget Reduction Process
By Elaine Jones
By next week, President Eugene P.
Trani and the vice presidents will know
the Board of Visitors' reactions to VCU's
tuition-increase proposal. They also will
have heard from other groups, including
the Faculty Senate, the Council of
Academic Administrators, and students,
on a preliminary proposal to reduce
VCU's budget in 1991 -92 that went
before University Council on March 18.
In addition to the $12 million that
VCU already has cut from its budget, the
University faces another $13 million,
pending the outcome of Governor L.
Douglas Wilder's review of the budget
bill approved by the General Assembly.
Assuming the $13 million target holds,
VCU's general funding will see a total
reduction from $128 million at the end of
1989-90 to $103 million in 1991-92.
The preliminary budget proposal
describes three ways VCU will meet its
$13 million target reduction: tuition
increases; permanent reduction altern a-
. tives that emerged primarily from unit
analyses; and alternatives to complete the
target reduction on a short-tenn and a
penn anent basis arising out of strategic
issues analyses.
Tuition Increases--$5.8 million: Trani
reported to University Council that presi­dents
of Virginia's public institutions
sought and got maximum flexibility to
raise tuition from the General Assembly
and additional dollars for financial aid for
undergraduate students. Trani will not be
alone among Virginia's presidents in
using the maximum authority in their pro­posals
to their boards. Tuition increases
vary according to residency status;
full-time and part-time status; differences
among undergraduates, graduates,
Jnedical tuden , 1IfId dental students; and
on- and off-campus living arrangements.
(See box on page 2.)
The preliminary proposal described
the main objective of tuition increases: to
replace up to one-half of the general fund
reductions imposed by the state. Tuition
increases also would provide for other
initiatives, inCluding funding microcom­puter
labs for students; maintaining the
program to fund tuition waivers and
out-of-state tuition differential waivers
for selected undergraduate students
appointed to graduate assistantships: off­setting
hikes in medical and dental stu­dent
tuition; and continuing the Under­graduate
Scholarship Program funded
through tuition waivers for up to 185 stu­dents
of the entering freshman class
(which include Honors Students), among
a number of other objectives identified in
the preliminary proposal.
Unit Analysis--$4.1 million: Deans,
directors, and department heads identified
options to reduce their budgets, which the
vice presidents wil l consider as penna­nent
reduction measures. Described in the
preliminary proposal, unit reductions fall
into ten categories:
I. Various units identified full-time
faculty , administrat ive, and classified
positions for e limination . Vacant
positions among these units would be
abolished: for layoffs, state and Uni­versity
employee policies and layoff
procedures would be implemented.
2. Part-time hourly employment.
graduate teaching assistants, and adjunct
faculty would be restricted among various
unils and instructional departments.
3. Non-personal support would
be reduced to show sav ings in travel, pub­lication
costs. equipment